A Late Night Swim
by TreacleTart301
Summary: Dennis Creevey sees Hogwarts for the first time.
I step off the Hogwarts express, full of excitement. My brother, Colin, has told me all about school and shown me a million pictures of it. Every night since, ghosts and talking portraits have danced through my dreams.

As I join the mob of students crowding the exit platform, I see the most enormous man that I've ever seen in my life. He must stand at least a meter and a half above the crowd. His hands are easily the size of large dinner plates and hair covers almost every inch of his face. I've never see anything like him in my entire life.

In one of his massive hands he holds a lantern out in front of him. "Firs' years. Firs' years over here," he shouts above the chaos of the crowd.

Pausing for a moment, I take in all the chaos around me. The air seems to be electrically charged with nervous excitement.

I follow the large man along with the other first years. We make our way down a dark path and find the shoreline of a huge lake. The water is smooth as glass, except for the very center of it where I see a few ripples. Images of all sorts of aquatic creatures pop into my mind, causing me to wonder what might be below the surface of the water.

"Firs' years to the boats!" the gigantic man shouts.

I step into a boat and am quite pleased when the humongous man joins me.

Once all of the first years are in the boats, he says "Forward," and the boats push off from the shore gliding through the smooth water.

This is my first glimpse of any magic really and I'm beyond excited to finally see it. Although my brother, Colin, has told me all about magic and even shown me pictures, he's been unable to actually perform any magic. He said it had something to do with being underage.

As we make it to the middle of the lake a large ripple causes the boats to rock gently. Hardly anyone seems to notice because they are so in awe of everything that's happening.

The fleet of row boats passes under a large bridge covered in hanging vines. They grasp at my hair and arms as we float under them. I think this must be some magical plant because I've never seen anything like it before.

Once we come out from under the bridge, I catch my first glimpse of Hogwarts. It's the most magnificent castle that I've ever seen. The turrets are so tall that they almost look like they could poke holes through the clouds and the hundreds of windows that line the walls are blazing with light against the dark night sky. I can't quite place why, but it feels magical.

I stand in the boat, hoping to get a better look at it.

"Beau'iful isn't it? Bin round this bend a hundred times, but it's still amazin' every time," the giant man says.

Just then a strong wave ripples across the lake and the boat begins to sway from side to side. I try to keep my balance, but a second wave causes me to lose it. Soon I am surrounded by blackness and freezing cold.

I'm not the best swimmer, but I try to kick to the surface. I make decent progress, but in seconds, I'm stopped. Something is wrapped around my right leg and refusing to let go. In the darkness, I'm unable to distinguish what it is.

My chest begins to ache and my lungs start to burn. I claw at the thing holding me under water, but it seems to make little difference. Whatever it is, it's much stronger than me. Soon spots are floating before my eyes.

Just as I begin to think that I might drown, I feel myself being pulled upwards by the thing wrapped around my leg. I break the water's surface and gasp for air.

I soon find myself at least twenty feet in the air and when I look down to see what is holding me up, I spot the largest tentacle I've ever seen in my life. Where the tentacle meets the water, I notice two eyes the size of trash can lids staring up at me.

Before I can even register what's happening, the creature has set me back into my boat.

I watch in amusement as the massive man leans over the side of the boat, pats the creature's tentacle and says, "Thanks Bessie."

"What was that?" I ask.

"Bessie's the giant squid. Harmless really. Sure'll be summat to tell the other students when yeh get to school though."

"Cool!" I say as a smile breaks across my face. I can't wait to get to the school so I can tell Colin. He'll think it's incredible.

The boats continue their journey through the water and the cool night air against my skin and the excitement coursing through my veins causes me to shiver.

The big man reaches over and wraps his coat around me. It's so large that I feel as if I'm drowning in fabric, but it's warm, so I snuggle down into it. Something wriggles in one of the pockets and I almost jump back out of the boat from surprise.

"Don' worry bout that. Probably a couple dormice or summat."

I settle back down and stare ahead at the castle. My mind is whirring with all the strange new things I've seen. It's a lot to take in, but I can't wait to get started. After everything my brother's told me, I imagine this will all be brilliant.

The boats dock at the edge of the lake, only a few hundred yards from where the school stands. Now that I'm close to it, the sheer magnitude of its size really sinks in. In order to see the top of it, I have to tilt my head all the way back and look almost straight up. For just a moment, I feel tiny and inconsequential.

The humongous man leads us from the boats to a stone stairway leading up to two heavy doors. The doors are decorated with carvings and I'm busy trying to discern what they are when a severe looking older woman walks out of them.

"Good evening and welcome to Hogwarts. Before you join the feast, you will have to be sorted into houses. Please, follow me."

I take a look around and notice that most of the other students seem to be afraid or worried. I'm not though. Colin's told me that the sorting isn't too bad. I step to the top of the stairs and follow the woman inside. I can't wait to start this new adventure.

* * *

 _Hi there!_

 _This story was originally posted on HPFF for the Unloved Character Challenge. The point of the challenge was to write about a minor character. I was assigned Dennis Creevey and I also decided to include Hagrid as well._

 _I had a lot of fun writing this and would love to know what you thought of it! Feel free to leave a comment!_

 _Thanks for reading!_

 _~Kaitlin/TreacleTart_


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